Set Fire To The Rain
by Adulting
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy transfers to Hogwarts in third year. He's closed off, bitter, and angry at the whole world. And a... Gryffindor? Kind hearted Lily Luna, Rebel Rose Weasley (and Albus, who's dragged along for the ride) are drawn into the mystery that is Scorpius Malfoy. Why is he the way he is? Where are his parents? Does he really just want to watch the world burn?
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: I am playing fast and loose (if that's how the expression goes) with the ages and names of characters. Mostly because I'm too lazy to look it up. So this is basically a mild AU.

The train shuttered along the tracks. The compartment was empty except for one boy dressed in black. He had a sullen look on his face that discouraged anyone else from even entering.

Almost equally off-putting was the fact that he was smoking, and a thick haze of stifling vapor clogged the air in the small room.  
Whispers spread down the corridor.

"You'll never guess"

"Did you hear?" ...  
"Son of Malfoy.."

"Transferred here"

"why now?" ...  
"Anyone seen him?"

"Don't want his kind here"

The boy took a long drag on his cigarette and turned to watch the cold rain pelting the window until it stopped.

Thirteen year old Rose Weasley sat with her cousin Albus. They were playing cards.  
The window was open, and a chill autumn wind swept through the compartment, blowing her long auburn hair around her head. They were currently playing a game they had invented themselves (or rather, Rose had invented it, and Albus was the only one who understood it) It was a confusing mashup of poker and a very violent version of exploding snap. This was the reason why Rose and Albus had perpetually bandaged hands. In the pot was a bottle of red nail polish (Rose's) An illicitly obtained flask of firewhisky (also Rose's) a bundle of fireworks (Albus's) and a large sum of money (Albus's) Abruptly a card exploded. Albus jumped back, swearing. He didn't move quite fast enough, and his pinky was caught in the explosion.  
Rose was doubled over laughing.  
"The look on your face!" She crowed. "Episky" he waved his wand, and the finger snapped back into place. "These cards seem to explode more frequently when I'm the one holding them." He complained, peeved.  
Rose held up both her hands, covered in a total of nine band aids. "Yeah? That right?" He rolled his eyes, and changed the subject. "I don't know why I even bother. I never win." "But just think, this could be the time that you do!" She cajoled. "Come on, don't be such a wet blanket."  
Albus wasn't even looking at her. Augusta Longbottom had just sashayed down the corridor, leaving behind the scent of expensive French perfume.  
A very popular sixth year, and best friend of Dominique Weasley, she was tall, curvaceous, and charmingly clueless (about everything except how to look like the cover of a sports illustrated magazine, it seemed) Rose snapped her fingers in front of Albus's face. "Earth to Al." She rapped him on the head. "Knock knock, anyone home?" "Uhh, what?" He said, gradually coming out of his stupor. He rubbed his head. "I wish you wouldn't do that, Rose. It bloody hurt."  
"Oh honestly," Rose rolled her eyes, "you'd think she's Venus incarnate, the way people act." She sat back in her seat and propped her feet up on the opposite side. It wasn't that she was jealous of Augusta, she wasn't. Really. She was fine with having the body of a twelve year old boy. Really, she was.  
She glared down at her hands, fingernails currently painted dark purple, and twisted one of her rings around idly on her finger. It was her favorite ring, shaped like a skull and enchanted so that the eyes glowed red whenever she was about to put poisoned food in her mouth (this happened more often than you'd think) it was a gift from Zappor Zabini, who had been her boyfriend in second year. It had been the shortest and oddest relationship of her admittedly limited romantic experiences (Of which there were only two so far. Her older cousins assured her that this was a perfectly acceptable number for someone her age. More than acceptable, actually. Molly was a fifth year, and she still hadn't gotten a boyfriend.)

James poked his oh-so-carefully-mussed head of hair into their compartment. "Hey, you two dips heard the news yet?" "What, that you were caught in a tornado on the way here?" Said Rose in reference to his hair, which he either didn't acknowledge or didn't get. "Draco Malfoy's son transferred to hogwarts." "Mm-hm. Yeah, okay." Said Rose, raising an eyebrow.  
"No, I'm not joking! I'm dead serious, ferret junior is somewhere on this train right now." Protested James.  
"I'll believe that when I see it. No way old man Malfoy would ever send his precious spawn to hogwarts." Rose scoffed. "Nice try though, Jamie. The first years down the hall'l probably buy it."  
"Wait, what?" Said Albus, looking confused. "What are we even talking about?" "Wake up major Tom." Said James, slapping Albus upside the head triumphantly. "That right there is what I'm talking about when I say you'll never make the quidditch team. And fine Rose, don't believe me. Doesn't make a difference, you'll find out soon enough. He'll be in your year. How I pity you.  
See you later space cadet, hellcat." he nodded to Albus, saluted Rose mockingly, and left.  
A few moments passed, then a scream could heard echoing down the train. "That git!" Shrieked Rose. "He stole my firewhisky!"

As they were getting off the train, with Rose single-mindedly ranting about James, someone bumped into Albus from behind.  
"Hey, watch it." He said, in a mild tone. The kid was obviously muggle born, he was dressed in a pair of loose, ripped up dark jeans and a faded black tee shirt, with an obviously secondhand robe thrown overtop of it.  
The boy aimed a dirty look at him; he smelled of cigarette smoke, and his hair was a shaggy, tangled mess that hung in his eyes.  
Albus got a bad feeling from him. "You might want to change into uniform, mate." He advised. "The name's Albus. I don't recall seeing you around here before. What year are you in?"  
The kid walked off without replying, shoulders hunched.  
Albus stood in confusion a moment, then put the encounter out of his mind and followed Rose to the carriages.

The two of them were seated at gryffindor table. Albus was still trying to reason with Rose.  
"Come on Rose, its not like you didn't steal it yourself from uncle George. And let's be honest, you wouldn't have drank it anyway."  
"Yeah? How do you know that? Maybe I would have. And anyway, I could have traded it to one of the sixth or seventh years for something cool." Rose was determined to be in a bad mood, snorting rudely as the sorting hat sung, and making fun of particularly ridiculous sounding verses beneath her breath (at least, she thought it was beneath her breath. Rose wasn't the best at being quiet or subtle)  
Albus tried not to show it, but he was getting annoyed. Rose could never let anything go. He tried to think of something to take her mind off of the stolen firewhisky. "look, it's that muggle born kid who bumped into me getting off the train. I see he's changed." He commented. Against her will, Rose turned to look. The boy was approaching Gryffindor table. As he sat down they caught sight of a red and gold tie around his neck.  
"That kid's in gryffindor?" Exclaimed Rose, "how have I never seen him before? Have you ever seen him?" Albus shook his head. A sneaking suspicious was beginning to creep up on him, but he kept quiet about it.  
"There's something familiar about him." Continued Rose. The kid was sitting with his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands, like he had a headache. "I know I've seen him before, or someone who looked like him!" Rose grabbed a piece of bread out of a basket and chucked it at him. The bread bounced off his shoulder. "Hey kid, what's your name?" She called across the table. Albus shook his head.  
The boy looked up, an expression of absolute fury on his face. He didn't reply, only glared for a few minutes, then pointedly looked away. "Bloody hell, talk about mental." Rose said, looking torn between anger and confusion. "What's his problem? What'd I do?"  
"I dunno, Rose. Maybe some people don't take kindly to being pelted with bread and shouted at. Look, don't worry about it. The kid's obviously got problems. He wouldn't talk to me either, before."  
At that moment, the sorting apparently done (neither of them had paid much attention) headmistress McGonagall stepped up to give to the usual announcements. Rose muttered along with her, quoting the exact words perfectly, complete with over exaggerated facial expressions. Albus began to snicker, half irritated, half amused.  
"Those wishing to avoid detention would do well to keep out of the forbidden forest. Hogsmeade is off limits to first and second years-"  
Rose elbowed Albus, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. "Of which lowly and despised ranks we no longer belong to. Sweet freedom!" She threw her head back and her arms out, accidentally clocking someone in the face. Luckily it was only their cousin Lucy, who had a friendly, quiet disposition. "Sorry." Said Rose, not sounding terribly sincere.  
"It's alright." Lucy sighed, readjusting her glasses and scooting away a bit.

Albus had just begun to eat, when McGonagall unexpectedly continued.  
"As some of you will no doubt already have figured out for yourselves, we have a new third year transfer student this year. I trust everyone will give a suitable welcome to Scorpius Malfoy." Instantly a chorus of whispers arose from all four tables.  
Immediately all heads were craning toward slytherin table.  
"Mr. Malfoy has been sorted into Gryffindor. Now then- " nobody was listening.  
All heads spun to look at gryffindor, and the whispering and muttering reached a dull roar. There was a pause as the entire Gryffindor table went into shock before all at once realizing the same thing.  
The strange, unfriendly boy nobody could seem to remember seeing before was the son of Draco Malfoy!  
It seemed to Scorpius that hundreds of pairs of eyes had all focused on him with a blistering intensity. Albus and Rose exchanged an incredolous look. (a bit more so on Rose's part than Albus's)  
"That kid is Scorpius Malfoy?!" Spluttered Rose. "But... But why is he in gryffindor? Why was he dressed like a muggle before? Why is he here? Bloody hell, James was right! I can't believe it!"

And once the connection was made, it was obvious.  
The boy was pale and fair haired, though not so ghost-like as his father, with an arrogant cast to his features that was painfully familiar to most of the teachers. It was just that nobody had been looking for a Malfoy with baggy, worn out robes that were literally patched together, and overgrown, unkempt hair that obviously hadn't seen a comb in some time. And certainly they hadn't been looking for him in the direction of gryffindor table.  
Scorpius met the stares with a hostile expression. "What? Haven't you lot got anything better to do than stare all day?" He stabbed a piece of meat on his plate violently, and shoved it in his mouth, looking back down.  
"Easy there, Malfoy. No need to get defensive. People are curious about a new student, thats all." Said Molly, also their cousin, and a prefect. Malfoy ignored her, and didn't say another word the entire meal. Nobody tried talking to him after witnessing both Rose and Molly's failed attempts.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere was tense in the common room, and the sound of James and Rose bickering was starting to get on Albus's nerves.  
"For the last time Rose, I did not take your firewhisky! And if you had some firewhisky and its gone missing, it's what you deserve. Ickle third years are way too young to be drinking. You should be glad its gone, someone no doubt much older and wiser than you has removed the temptation. It's for your own good."

"You lying thief! You took it and you're not even trying to hide it! I'm going to get you back for this, James potter!" Rose accused.

"Oh, I'm quaking in my boots, Weasley." James scoffed.

"You ought to be! You can try and act tough, but I've got dirt on you and you know it! I wonder what gran would say about that time you and Fred took the car to London in fourth year!"

"Hey, leave me out of this!" Protested an alarmed Fred.

"That's rich coming from a thirteen year old girl throwing a fit over her missing alcohol!" Bellowed James.  
Albus had had enough, he got up and left the common room, heading outside. He walked for a while, without quite having a destination in mind. It was a melacholy fall day, with a dark grey sky and a cold wind that blew through the dying grass.  
It had been drizzling for quite a while by the time he reached Hagrid's hut, without really having intended to go there. Hagrid served him a giant size cup of tea, and he waited out the rain there.

Meanwhile, Rose was attempting to investigate Scorpius Malfoy.  
Nobody was sure how a Malfoy had been sorted into Gryffindor, or why he'd transferred to hogwarts, or where he'd even gone to school before.  
Rose, being insatiably curious, stayed up to talk to him when came back in.  
She gave up and went to bed around one thirty am. As it turned out, Malfoy never did turn up that night, or even at breakfast the next morning, making his first appearance in class.

The first class was defense against the dark arts, taught by professor Longbottom. He gave Rose and Albus a smile as they walked in, but otherwise didn't aknowledge the fact that he had a closer relationship with them than the rest of the class.  
Neville Longbottom was an inscruitably just teacher. And the kids respected him for that. He was also popular for jumping straight into the subject matter, with no frills or niceties attached. He, like many of their parents, was a war veteran and it showed.

Class was progressing well, with everybody following along and seeming interested.  
Until Neville's eyes landed on Malfoy, who was slumped over his desk, leaning his head on his hands.

"Malfoy!" Snapped Neville. "Name the three unforgivables."

Scorpius jumped a little. He looked up, blinking and looking bleary eyed. "What?" He asked, sounding very out of it. Someone snickered. Scorpius shot them a glare.

"If you'd been paying attention, you'd know what I just asked." Said Neville, voice uncharacteristically flinty.

"Well obviously I wasn't paying attention. So I don't know." Said Scorpius.

His tone was neutral enough, but Albus, who was sitting a row in front of him, could see the look on his face. Pure hatred. It actually creeped him out a little.  
It was clear Professor Longbottom could see it too. His jaw was set. "Maybe Rose can answer the question for us. Rose?" said Neville.

"Yes sir!" grinned Rose, "The imperious, the cruciatus, and erm, avada kedavra." She said, smirking in the general direction of Scorpius.

"Very good. Five points to gryffindor. Try to stay awake next time, Malfoy. I'll let it slip this time, seeing how it is the first day, but this better not happen again" Said Neville, and continued on with the lesson.

Rose was pleased to have been made to look good next to Scorpius. It wasn't often that she came off as a model student.  
Albus was one of the only people who knew it was a sore spot for her to be constantly held up to her mother, the brightest witch of her age.

Unlike Rose, Albus was a little unsettled. Once more, he had gotten a bad feeling from Malfoy. The look he'd given Professor Neville, it was, well, evil was too extreme of a word, but it was certainly an overly strong reaction for being told not to doze off in class.

At lunch Malfoy showed up late and proceeded to heap his plate with every food within reaching distance. He then started to eat like a starved dog, wolfing everything down so fast Albus was surprised he didn't choke. After scraping the last bit of food off, he piled it high again and finished that off too, in mere minutes. He reached for thirds.  
By this time even Rose, the bottomless pit, was staring.

"What, didn't they feed you back at the Malfoy house of horrors?" Said a male voice, not quite joking.  
It was Josh Taylor, an athletic muggleborn fourth year. (With his tidy dark hair, muscular physique, and blue eyes, he was jestingly referred to as superman by Rose, Lily, and Roxanne.)

Scorpius set his fork down and looked up.  
"Eff off." (Well he didn't say "eff") He spat, in the sort of tone one would use to address someone who purposely ran over their dog.

Josh looked taken aback, then incensed.  
"Why don't you make me, Malfoy."

And that was all it took. Scorpius hurled his plate across the table at Josh's face. Albus heard Lily gasp. Josh, with impressive reflexes, dodged the plate, and it smashed against the wall sending food and porcelain shards flying.

"What the hell?!" Josh shouted, instantly infuriated. "You almost took my eye out, you freak! Who does that?!"

Scorpius stood. By now the entire great hall was watching the incident go down. "Next time, I'll aim better." ground out Scorpius, every bit as angry as Josh. And with that he hurled himself at the other boy.

The two of them fell to the floor, a whirling dervish of swinging limbs and curses.  
The entire gryffindor table watched in amazement as the scrawnier and younger Malfoy came out on top. He fought just like he ate, a frenzied mad dog.  
"Accio glass!" He snarled, one hand around Josh's throat, the other holding his wand. A drinking glass came hurtling into his hand. He lifted it high above the other boy's head. Everyone had been watching up until this point, but now Louis Weasley, who was a prefect, suddenly realized what Malfoy was about to do.  
He leapt into action. Louis jumped up and waved his wand. "Stupify!"

Scorpius fell sideways off of the struggling fourth year. The glass fell to smash on the stone floor next to Josh's head.

Josh scrambled up, pale and visibly shaken. He had a split lip.  
"The freak tried to kill me! You all saw that! He would have smashed that glass in my face!"

"What is going on here?" Demanded a commanding voice. It was Mcgonagall.

"Malfoy tried to kill me!" Said Josh.

"There's been a fight." Said Molly at the same time.

"A fight, my arse!" Josh snapped.  
"He attacked me for no bloody reason! He's mental! First he threw a plate at my head, then he attacked me, and he almost broke that glass over my face!"

"It's true, professor!" Confirmed Louis.

"No need to yell!" Molly snapped at Josh.

"Enough!" Mcgonagall put an end to the sniping. "I will not tolerate this kind of disgraceful commotion in the great hall! You should all be ashamed. Twenty points from gryffindor."

"Good job, Taylor." Someone muttered.

Josh spun around. "How can you blame me?! He's the one-"  
"I said enough!" Mcgonagall shouted.

By this time Malfoy had climbed unsteadily to his feet. "Malfoy, come with me!" She commanded. She strode out with Scorpius reluctantly following behind, hands in his pockets, his already customary glare on his face.

Rose and Albus were playing exploding poker by the lake (this was the name they'd settled on after about three minutes of deliberation)  
They weren't allowed to do it in the common room anymore, after the incident in which the sofa had caught fire and Dominique lost most of her hair last year. Though it soon grew out, and she sparked a trend of spiky pixie cuts among the older girls, to the horror of most boys attending hogwarts.

Albus would have commented on how badly she was playing, but he was on his first winning streak in months, and he wasn't about to bring it to her attention.

"D'you... Well... Do you feel like.." Rose was oddly hesitant.

"Just spit out, Rose." Albus prompted. He probably wouldn't talk to anyone else that way, but this was Rose. They were close enough to be rude to each other and not care.

"I just get a weird feeling from Malfoy. Yeah he's a pure blood brat and his dad was a death eater and all that, but its like-its like there something off about him that goes deeper than that. Am I crazy?" she asked.

Albus looked up from his cards."No, actually. I noticed it too. The way he looked at you that first day? He looked at Neville-professor Longbottom that way too. And he had the same look on his face in potions today."

"It's like he hates everyone. Really hates them. Like he wouldn't mind going on a killing spree down the entire great hall. I can just see the headline: Scorpius Malfoy, serial killer, singlehandedly annihilates entire gryffindor population. Last seen choking Albus Potter with his hair."

"Right." said Albus, shaking his head.  
A card exploded, ending the conversation, and both of them threw themselves backwards. Rose looked mournfully at the small smoking crater where the deck of cards had previously been.

"Damn! It's taken the rest out with it. That was my last deck." she complained.

"Never mind that, we'll get some more in hogsmeade this weekend." Albus trie to be comforting.

"That's not the point, Al. Do you know how bloody long it takes to enchant them?"

"For you? ...thirty minutes."

"Yeah but that's thirty minutes I could have spent planning my U.R.A.J"

This was her "short"hand for "ultimate revenge against James" whom she still held a grudge against over the firewhisky. It wasn't so much that she really cared about it, it was more that she couldn't stand to think James had gotten one over on her.  
Albus wasn't quite so keen on revenge. He was the one that had to live with James, after all.

Transfiguration was taught by Professor Vera Goss, a trim thirtysomething former ravenclaw.  
She was a very thin, angular looking witch with perfectly straight brown hair.  
Her face was stern and so was her teaching style.

Scorpius seemed to be having an exceptional amount of trouble with the current task.  
They were supposed to transfigure a koi fish (in a bucket of water, of course) into a water lily.  
Professor Goss had decreed that the lily must sit on a lily -pad, and absolutely must be pink.

"Try again, Malfoy!" She ordered.

Albus winced. She had a shrill voice that was just the right tone to, as Rose put it, "make your ears bleed"

Malfoy waved his wand and muttered the incantation.

"You are not enunciating! Move your lips when you speak! And for Merlin's sake, speak up!"

Scorpius tried again.  
Professor Goss seized his hand.

"I said to flick your wrist, not your whole arm-"

"Don't touch me!" Scorpius wrenched his arm back, jumping to his feet.

"For Merlin's sake, boy, sit down! I've never seen anyone who was such a monumental dunce at transfiguration! What on earth did they teach you at that school?"

Scorpius sat back down after a pause. He was breathing heavy, his jaw was clenched hard.

"Now try again!"

"Psst!" Rose bounced a crumpled piece of paper off Albus's arm.

She had been one of the first to finish, though she'd had to go back and redo it, as Professor Goss refused to accept her blood red lily.

Albus smoothed out the piece of paper.  
"Malfoy's pissed" was all it read.  
"No kidding" Albus muttered under his breath. But then he really looked. Rose was right, Scorpius was the angriest either of them had ever seen him.  
His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His face was drained of color. His eyes looked black.  
His whole posture practically screamed "back off" but professor Goss either didn't get the message or was purposely aggravating him. He had evidently failed to even budge the fish from its original form for the eighth time in a row.  
Professor Goss was looming over him, right up in his person space, her hand directing his.

"How can you be so thick?! Again, again, again! And move your hand properly this time, not like a limp dishrag!"

Scorpius was all but blowing steam from his nose.

They were finally let out (all but Scorpius) and rose was shaking her head.  
"I swear that woman doesn't know when to quit. Prissiest teacher we've had yet."  
She put on an exaggerated snotty expression. "I said pink, Weasley! Now you are either colorblind or willfully disobedient. Do it again! Again I say!  
Well I won't be surprised if she winds up dead after today. Malfoy looked ready to murder her."  
Albus ran a hand through his hair. It had been one long day.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dear mum and dad,  
how are you? I'm doing fine, and its not as if I don't have exactly ten relatives to go to if I do have any problems. I've been sorted into gryffindor, but I'm sure you've already heard.

Me and Hugo have had lots of fun so far, though neither of us like professor Goss's class much. So far I'm doing the best in potions.  
It's really not hard at all, I don't understand why James and Albus hate it so much. It reminds me of cooking, only you have to concentrate a lot more.

James and Rose have been fighting nonstop for the past two weeks. Me and Hugo are considering pranking the both of them just so they have a common enemy, and can stop arguing every night.

Everyone in gryffindor who isn't a Weasley or Potter, which honestly isn't that many people, are about ready to toss them both into the lake. Everyone who is a Weasley or Potter is ready to just kill them already.

Everyone is surprised that Fred and James or Roxanne or even Rose aren't the biggest troublemakers this year.  
The award for most detentions by far goes to Scorpius Malfoy.  
He just transferred to hogwarts, and he's a third year like Albus and Rose.  
He's also in gryffindor. Yes, dad, you read that right. But we hardly ever see him outside of class, so its allright I guess. He got in a fight with a muggleborn boy on the first day of school. He's still in detention over that. Along with at least three other detentions for talking back to teachers.  
That's all the news for now. James and Fred say to tell gran to send more candy.  
~Love Lily."

Lily signed her letter with a flourish. The topic of Scorpius Malfoy was quite interesting to her. She'd missed out on his first fight while she was in the bathroom, but his second one happened right in front of her.

Lily had been walking down the corridor alongside the less populated courtyard late in the day. A spell had come hurtling toward her, and she ducked automatically. The hex hit the wall behind her. She pulled out her wand, on the defensive in a moment (this was a well honed reflex when one had as many male relatives as she did.) But whoever had cast the spell hadn't been aiming for her.  
Scorpius Malfoy and a boy she didn't recognize were dueling in the empty courtyard.

The unfamiliar boy shouted,  
"Death eater spawn! You never should have come here!"

Scorpius didn't reply, and dodged the boy's next hex.

"It's filth like your father who gave slytherin a bad name!" The boy continued.

"Bombardo!" Scorpius incanted, and then there was a low, loud booming sound. The ground shook a little, and Lily fell to the ground. She heard someone cry out in pain, and pushed herself back to her feet.

Scorpius came charging through, and shoved her roughly to the side.

"Out of the way Weasley!" He spat.

"It's Potter!" She called after him, a few seconds too late.

She dusted herself off and rushed into the courtyard. An older slytherin boy lie on the ground, moaning.

There was an ugly gash on his forehead, and his clothes were torn and bloody. His stomach looked burnt.

The grass around them was blackened, and several bushes were on fire.  
Lily's hands were shaking a little. She hated to be around injured people. She was terribly afraid of doing the wrong thing and making it worse.

"Episky." She attempted with some trepidation. It didn't work; either she cast the spell wrong or his wounds were too serious. Lily knelt by the nearly unconscious boy.

"You're going to be all right! Just hold on, I'm going to get help. Try to stay awake!"

She ran off in the direction of the hospital wing.  
She was running so fast, and so preoccupied with getting help that she didn't see the person directly in front of her, and crashed headlong into them.

Lily nearly fell backwards, but a pair of strong arms caught her.

"Steady there, Lily, what's the rush?"

Lily could have cried in relief. It was "uncle" Neville!

"You have to come right away! There's a boy bleeding to death in the courtyard!" She blurted out.  
And while he may not have been bleeding to death, it certainly was an emergency.  
Instantly Neville was all business.

"Go get madam Pomfrey!" He barked, and ran to the courtyard.

Lily waited anxiously outside the hospital wing. Since she was the one who'd witnessed the whole thing, she felt sort of responsible for the injured boy. When Neville finally came out, with blood on his shirtfront, she stepped forward.

"How is he?" She asked.

"He'll heal up fine. But he hit his head quite hard. I need to know, did you see anything of what happened?  
Anything at all, lily.  
That was some very serious magic. Whoever blew up the courtyard went too far over the line for a simple schoolyard duel. Someone could have been seriously hurt, even killed."

Her first instinct was to blurt it all out. She was sure just about anyone else in her family would have. But the longer the moment stretched on, the more unsure about whether to tell or not she was. On the one hand Scorpius seemed like a really violent boy, and was in all probability the one at fault.  
On the other, from the sound of it, the other boy might have been the instigator here, he had been the one shouting the insults.

Most people knew lily had nearly been a hatstall. She told them it had wanted to put her in ravenclaw. That was a lie. It had wanted to put her in slytherin. Be ostracized by her cousins and siblings? Sleep in the dungeon? Hang around with a bunch of stuck up death eater's spoiled offspring? And (worst of all) endure uncle Ron's scolding, teasing, and lecturing? No thanks.  
She had begged and cajoled and eventually threatened it to put her in gryffindor.  
After four and a half minutes, reluctantly, it had.  
But Lilly was afraid she was a slytherin at heart really.

"No, professor. I didn't see anything. I was just walking down the corridor and I heard moaning. Then I saw what had happened. I hope that boy will be alright."

And that was that. Lily hoped she had made the right decision.

As she returned to the common room that night, she nearly tripped over someone's foot.  
It was Malfoy. He was leaning against the wall with his foot out, half in the shadows cast by the dying firelight from the mantle.

"Watch it, Weasley."

"Watch it yourself, Greengrass." She retorted.  
Lily was shocked when he laughed. He had a very nice laugh, not a snicker or cackle like one would think.

"You didn't tell. I know you saw the whole thing. Why didn't you tell?" He asked.

"It didn't sound to me like it was all your fault. It takes two to make a fight. And anyway, I've got enough relatives to know I'm better off not taking sides in a duel." She reasoned.

"Right. Well... Thanks. And, uh, sorry. For pushing you."

This was even more shocking. Scorpius Malfoy apologizing for pushing her?

"That's alright. When you've got as many relatives as I have, you also don't bother holding grudges."

"Well I wouldn't know about that. Having a family. I'll take your word for it." He answered.

"You've got your parents, haven't you?"

Scorpius shook his head.

Maybe it was just the dim, flickering light, but to lily at that moment, his eyes looked deeply sad.

"Nah. Theres only me."

Lily opened her mouth to ask what had happened to his parents, when someone came through the portrait, and Scorpius was gone, melted into the shadows and away in a flash.

After that she was always on the lookout for a chance to talk to him, but he was terribly elusive. He didn't seem to feel any need or desire to be around other kids.  
Except to fight them, that was.

Lily may have spared him for a little while, but of course, when the slytherin boy woke up it was all over. Scorpius was severely punished. What was done to him she hadn't a clue, but he was sent home for a month. 


	4. Chapter 4

Rose Weasley was exhilarated. Hogsmeade, finally!

She chafed under the restriction of not being able to leave hogwarts. Yes the school was enormous, but it was still a school in the end.  
Rose Weasley was not her mother.  
She may have been gifted academically, but she craved adventure, excitement, and adrenalin rush more than books, papers, and quills.

She had painted her nails with an iridescent polish specially for this occasion, as well as taken the time to straighten her unruly hair.  
To her annoyance, Albus hadn't put any special thought into his attire. His hair was messy, not because he had purposefully combed it that way like James, but because he couldn't be bothered to run a brush through it.  
It also looked like he was wearing whatever he'd rolled out bed and saw first.  
He was possibly the only member of their family that simply didn't care about image.

"Come on, Al! It's perfect, even you have to admit that. Nothing would shame him more!"

"Look Rose, its your feud with him. I don't really care, and I don't want to get involved."

"This is James we're talking about here Al. Surely you must have SOME deep seated resentment issues toward him. He's put you down your whole life! He's taken every opportunity to mock and belittle you! Think of the time he wrote "I love Bertha Bulstrode" in floating letters above your head, and you didn't find out for hours!"

"I'm not saying I wouldn't be glad to see him taken down a peg.  
But what you're talking... It's too ambitious.  
Blimey Rose, if you don't get found out and expelled, James'll murder you for sure."

Rose set her teeth. Albus would be no help, that was quite clear. He could come off as a helpful, easy going guy, but trying to get him to do something he didn't want to was like trying to make a flobberworm sprout wings and fly.

Sometimes Rose thought the hat had put Albus in Gryffindor simply out of default. He was too lazy (in her opinion) for hufflepuff, and the other two houses were simply out of the question.

"Just forget about it Rose. The whole Firewhisky thing was months ago. You've got to learn to let things go."

"I haven't got to learn anything."  
Rose said mulishly.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, I don't want to argue with you. Lets go to Honeydukes."

The two of them trudged through the snow to the candy shop.  
The air was damp and chilly, and there was a wind that seemed to cut right through their winter clothes.

Winter had come early this year.  
The snowflakes flurried around them, catching in their hair.

Albus pulled open the door to Honeydukes, and they both hurried in.  
The wind slammed the door hard behind them.

Albus breathed in deep.  
The air was warm and smelled of rich chocolate.

As Albus was still savoring the air, Rose was already stuffing a bag with candy.

Albus's favorite was without question the chocolate. Rose liked things with a bit more of a fizz or a bang or at least obnoxiously bright colors.

She had to be the only kid Albus knew who actually liked acid pops and blood lollies.

After that they stopped in at the three broomsticks. It was, as usual, utterly packed.  
Rose waltzed right up and slapped her money down on the counter.  
"I'll take a rum."  
Madame Rosmerta rolled her eyes.

"A butterbeer for you too, Albus?"  
Rosmerta asked.

"Please." replied Albus.

Rose snatched up her butterbeer, and pointed at Madame Rosmerta.

"When I'm legal to buy alcohol, I'll be buying it from someone else."  
she declared.

"When you're legal, I'll be retired."

Rose and Albus took a corner table, with Rose muttering.

"As if she'll retire any time within the next seventy years!"

Rose began another tirade on James, and Albus tuned it out.  
Gradually he became aware of the discussion at the table across from them.

It was a small group of older slytherin boys.

"Disgusting. He's a disgrace to our kind. No control whatsoever. And little wonder he's a gryffindor." One was complaining.

Another one replied. "I'm not surprised by it, being brought up the way he was. To me its only further proof of the inferiority of mudbloo-"

"Shut up! We're in public here, or have you forgotten? There are some things you just don't say nowadays." Hissed a third in alarm.

"Look, I'll I'm saying is that I pity the poor sod. It could have been any one of us, if they'd had the evidence." The second voice replied.

Albus had just gotten interested in the conversation, when Rose snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Al? Al? Albuuuus?" She whined in a purposely aggravating manner.

"Uh, yeah?" He reluctantly turned his attention back to Rose.

"You haven't been listening to a single word I've said, have you?"

"Sorry." He said sheepishly.

"One of these days you're going to have to get your head out of the clouds, Al. Anyway, as I was SAYING, we should head to the joke shop now."

"Yeah, sure." He agreed, and followed her out into the snow.

But the conversation wouldn't leave his head. 


	5. Chapter 5

Scorpius returned quite different. For one thing his hair had been hacked off unevenly, very close to the scalp. It looked terrible.  
His face had already been gaunt, but now he looked downright ghastly.  
He spoke back to teachers much less, but seemed to be doing worse than ever at school.

Albus happened to walk in on him one day as he was changing his shirt. His first instinct was to walk right back out, Malfoy had flipped out over less in the past, but he couldn't help staring. Scorpius's ribs stuck out from his body, far too sharply defined to be healthy. Albus had never seen anyone so thin, except in pictures.  
Then Scorpius pulled one of his baggy, ripped up sweaters over his head and turned around.  
His eyes went wide.

"What are you looking at, potter?" He said angrily. "Have you been watching me this whole time? What are you, some kind of pervert?!"

"I can hardly be blamed for walking into the boy's dormitory. I do sleep here."

Malfoy's only response was to stride out of the room, purposefully bumping into Albus as he went. "There's no reason to be such a git about everything, Malfoy!"  
Albus called after him.

He quickly put the encounter out of his mind. So the kid was skinny, he mused, maybe he was just one of those people who couldn't gain weight. It really wasn't any of his business anyway.

Vera Goss was certainly annoying enough, but it was plain to all that Scorpius's real nemesis, out of a plethora of teachers he hated, was the herbology professor.

Apparently the long standing teacher, Pomona Sprout, had been stricken ill that year, and was thus rendered temporarily unable to teach. Apperantly she had accidentally inhaled the fumes of a seriously deadly venomous plant, and wouldn't recover for months.  
This opened up the way for a substitute, and that substitute was a man named Silas Buckley. Professor Buckley was a middle aged man with crooked, yellowed teeth, short greying hair, and a pair of square glasses.

He seemed to loathe Scorpius from the very beginning, and it was only a matter of minutes before the feeling was mutual.

Professor Buckley had looked Scorpius up and down like the boy was something he'd scraped off the bottom of his shoe.

"A Malfoy. I knew it was only a matter of time before the previous heir procreated. So you've finally crawled out of hiding.  
Your father was a slimy little bootlicker. A sycophant to a deranged madman. I know what to expect from you, boy. No matter what you do, I'll be watching." This was his introduction, punctuated by poking Scorpius in the chest.

Albus had winced. There was no way this could end well.  
Rose had raised an eyebrow.

"Woww." She whispered.

Scorpius had slapped the man's hand away from him.

"Don't. Touch. Me." He had ground out.

"Detention, Malfoy! You will find that your blood status means nothing here. You will learn to respect my authority, or you will not attend this class."

That had been their first class, and it had only grown worse since then.

The hatred between them had seemed to culminate when the class had arrived to a tableful of black, slug-like looking things.

"Bloody hell! Those things look toxic." Remarked Rose.

"What do you reckon they are?" Albus wondered.  
He poked one with a trowel. It wiggled.  
He jumped a little, and Rose snickered.

"Shut up, Rose. The professor's coming." Warned Jocelyn Finch-Fetchly, a pale, bossy girl.

"Today you will be harvesting bubotubers. Get out your gloves." Announced Buckley.

There was a shuffling sound as everyone pulled on their dragonhide gloves.

Everyone but Malfoy.

"Malfoy! Did I not say to get out your gloves?" Buckley demanded.

"I haven't got any." Scorpius replied sullenly.

Buckley's nostrils flared.

"And where, pray tell, are the gloves you wore previous to this occasion?"

Scorpius shrugged.

"I see right through you, Malfoy. If this little scheme is an attempt to get out of work, its sadly ill concieved."

"It's not a scheme. They're gone. Someone took them." Scorpius said hotly.

"Oh, "someone took them?" Absolutely ridiculous. Ten points from gryffindor. Do you think for one second I believe that?  
No. It's plainly a malicious lie on your part. Well the laugh is on you, Malfoy.  
You'll have to proceed with the lesson gloveless. You will get no special treatment from me."  
Buckley turned to face the rest of the class.

"You must be insane! I'm not squeezing bubotubers with my bare hands!" Scorpius yelled.

"Detention, Malfoy! You will NOT address me as if I am one of your little peers. Double detention for your carelessness in showing up with no gloves."

"You can give me a years worth of detention for all I bloody care. I'm not doing it."

Buckley stepped closer to him, getting in his personal space.  
Malfoy took a step back.

"So you blatantly and willfully refuse to obey. I see how it is. You simply won't do it.  
Very well. I won't waste any more time on you." He looked disdainfully down his nose at Scorpius.

Then he began to walk away.  
"I think this warrants a call to your guardians. Now how shall I phrase it? Young Scorpius has been lying, cheating, and defaming his fellow students in a transparent attempt to avoid dirtying his lily-white hands."

"No!" Shouted Malfoy, "you can't do that!" he sounded strangely panicked.

Buckley turned back.  
"Never presume to tell me what I can and can't do, boy. Give me one reason why I should not report your atrocious behavior in the classroom today."

"I'll harvest the bubotubers and whatever else you damn well please. Just don't call them."

This was the angriest Malfoy had ever looked, far outweighing anything previously seen in Vera Goss's class.  
Furious, black hatred was brewing in his eyes. His face was chalk white.

Buckley smirked slowly, showcasing his yellowed teeth.

"Ah, the inevitable Achilles heel. I know your weakness Malfoy. Cross me again, and I will see to it that your guardians are thoroughly informed. Twenty more points from gryffindor, and triple detentions."

Buckley turned to instruct the class, and things began to proceed once more as usual.

Albus felt highly uncomfortable with this. Scorpius would hiss in pain every few minutes. His hands were already in bad shape.

"Look Malfoy, why don't you borrow one of mine?" He offered when the professors back was to them.

"I don't need your fucking charity, potter!" Scorpius spat.

Albus was bewildered. "I'd do the same for anyone. Buckley's mad to make you do this."

"Piss off." Scorpius was too enraged to see reason.

Albus shook his head despairingly. "Oh well, can't say I didn't try." He said to himself.

"Professor, you can't make Malfoy squeeze bubotubers with no gloves, its practically torture!" Rose spoke up, folding her arms.

She didn't like Scorpius, or even know him at all, but this was madness. She couldn't stand back with her mouth shut a moment longer.

"Don't you dare presume to tell me what I can't do, Weasley. This is my class, and I WILL dole out any punishment I see fit. Ten points from gryffindor."

There was a collective mutinous groan from the gryffindors.  
"Please just shut up, Rose." Jocelyn breathed, uselessly.

"This is an abuse of authority! I'm completely certain Mcgonagall wouldn't condone this kind of barbaric "punishment"!" Rose declared.

"Thirty points from gryffindor and detention, Weasley!" Shouted Buckley, slamming his fist down on the greenhouse table.

"This is my classroom, and I WILL have control!"

Rose opened her mouth as if to argue further.

"Silence, Weasley! Not another word from you, I don't care who your father is, I don't care if your uncle is the king of England! Within this room, I am the ultimate authority! I will not be lectured on morals by a spoiled prepubescent brat! In this classroom you are not famous, you are not important, you are nothing but a pupil, and I am your instructor! Now back to work, all of you!"

In his fury Buckley crossed the room to loom over Scorpius.

"You've barely touched it, Malfoy! Thought I wouldn't notice, eh? Thought you were clever?"  
He snatched the halfway squeezed bubotuber away, and slapped a new, completely full one down in front of Scorpius.

"Start over! And after you finish with this, you'll do Weasley's for her. She seems to think that since her father is a celebrity she is too high and mighty for this class."

Buckley turned back to Rose. "Leave my class at once! You won't be returning here until I have a full letter of apology!"

"Don't hold your breath!" She retorted, and snatched up her books and satchel. Her hands were shaking in anger.

As she stomped out, Malfoy shot her the most venomous glare she had ever received in her life.

"Thanks for the help, Weasley." He said in a deadly sarcastic tone.

Albus felt almost shellshocked after the herbology incident. Every student in the class had stood and watched in silent disbelief as the scene had played out.  
All except Rose. Granted, she had only made it a hundred times worse, but at least she'd acted.  
What had he done? Halfheartedly offered Scorpius a glove and then silently watched as Rose was banished from class for standing up for what they all knew was right.  
Albus had never felt like less of a gryffindor. 


	6. Chapter 6

Mcgonagall sighed and massaged her temples.  
She could feel a headache coming on. She had started this job much later in life than Dumbledore had.

Sometimes she wondered if she ought to have retired instead of taking on yet more responsibility.

But here she was, close to twenty years after the battle of hogwarts, still going strong.

She gazed at the portrait of Albus, peacefully asleep, eternally, and let out a long sigh.

"You know, I do envy you, old friend." Albus, of course, remained asleep, snoring gently.

"It's times like this that I don't know how much more I've got left in me. By Merlin, I thought Draco was bad! And of course, in certain ways he WAS much worse. Those were different times. But this boy, its a fight every other day! He has so many detentions he'll never catch up on his homework. It's a dreadful cycle. He's so violent, I do wonder if this school is even the proper place for such a boy."

She thought back on the fight she had come across yesterday, one which had almost resulted in the destruction of the owlry, and shook her head. This couldn't go on.

"Detention for fighting? You?! Albus potter?! Fighting!" Rose couldn't believe it.

"Look, it's not my fault! The only reason I got involved was because I tried breaking it up! And I just got sort of... Sucked into it. I don't even know what the bloody fight was about in the first place!" Albus defended himself.

he'd walked up to the owlry to post a letter, and come upon the two of them grappling like muggle schoolboys.

Scorpius Malfoy and Sean Finnigan. Sean was the same age as them, and had a temper that nearly rivaled Malfoy's.

Scorpius's eye was swollen shut and turning purple, and Sean's nose was swollen and crooked.

They had been rolling around on the ground among the droppings and feathers, bloody and panting.  
It had been a very dirty fight.  
They separated and both scrambled up.

Scorpius kneed Sean in the groin, and the Irish boy doubled over.  
Scorpius kneed him again, in the face. Sean fell to the ground. Scorpius made as if to stomp on his head, and Albus had watched in disbelief.  
Sean rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding his fate.

Scorpius kicked him in the side, and Sean grabbed ahold of his foot and pulled him down hard.  
The back of Scorpius's head hit the stone floor, and he lie stunned.  
Sean climbed on top of him and began to pummel him in the head.

Albus shook himself out of it, and rushed in.

"Alright break it up, Sean, that enou-" Albus was silenced by a fist to the face.

His hand flew to his now swelling cheek.

"What the hell, Sean!" He yelled.

"Albus!" Sean yelled back in surprise, "I didn't realize it was you. Don't walk up on a fight like that!"

Albus would have replied, but at that moment Scorpius jumped to his feet and shoved Sean into Albus.

The two of them went tumbling down the steps of the owlry.

Albus and Sean lie in a bruised, twisted mess at the bottom of the stair.

Albus groaned. "I really... Damn. Ow... wish you hadn't done that Malfoy."  
Sean scrambled up, then ran and launched himself at Malfoy.

Albus ran after him, then skidded to a stop. He slapped himself on the forehead.

"What am I doing?" He berated himself. He drew his wand.

"Immobilus!" He cast the spell, hoping it would hit Malfoy. The two of them were moving around so quick it couldn't be a clean shot.

The spell hit Finnigan. He tipped over forwards, unable to move.

Malfoy brutally kicked him aside, and drew his wand.

"Incendio!" Malfoy shouted.

"Repello!" Albus countered.

Malfoy's spell bounced off the shield and back at him.  
Scorpius dodged his own spell, and it the ground behind him, inside the owlry.

Albus watched in horror as the covering of feathers and droppings that coated the floor was instantly aflame.

And that's when Mcgonagall had happened upon them.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?!"

After the fire had been put out, the three of them had been summoned to the headmistress's office.

"This is the final straw, Scorpius Malfoy. Setting the owlry on fire? What in Merlin's name would possess you to do such a thing?  
Did you do it out of pure maliciousness? What could you possibly hope to achieve with such a pointless and cruel act?"

"He wasn't aiming for the owlry, he was aiming for me. I repelled his spell and the owlry caught fire." Albus explained.

"Oh, much better! He was only attempting to set another student on fire, then?" Mcgonagall said in disbelief.

Scorpius only glared. His pale face was smeared in blood. He hadn't bothered to wipe it away.

"Detention, all of you. And Malfoy... Go wash your wash face." Mcgonagall said harshly.

"Again, Malfoy! Again, again, again!" Professor Goss demanded.

Scorpius clenched his fists.

"I've tried ten times already. I'm not suddenly going to get it on the eleventh try." He said.

"Then you'll stay after class until you can. This is elementary level transfiguration, really." Goss snapped back.

"Maybe all the inbreeding's muddled his brain. Its already given them albinism. Retardation's not a long shot." someone in the back whispered loudly.

There was a tense silence as everyone, including professor Goss, seemed to await scorpius's reaction with bated breath.

Scorpius did nothing. His grip around his wand grew tighter, and his eyes narrowed only by a fraction.  
But he didn't react.

"Focus, please! No chit chat in my classroom!" Goss reprimanded mildly.

The class progressed as usual after that, and nobody thought anymore about it.

That night as Rose lie in bed, she could have sworn that the air coming in through the window smelled like... Smoke.

Early that morning, while the sky was still pale and the sun not yet above the trees, a bonfire was found on the grounds.

The fire had been set between the lakefront and the castle.

It had mostly died out by the time it had been found, but was still blazing at the center, a thick, dark, and unpleasant smelling smoke billowing up into the chill morning air.

The bonfire had been composed from the entire wardrobe of a third year hufflepuff girl named Winifred Fawley.

As she was a very rich pureblood, this was a loss of hundreds and thousands of galleons in brand new designer silks, velvets, leather and cashmere. Clothing, shoes, accessories, it was all burned.

Everyone was baffled as to why and how anyone would have done it.

No trace of magic was found at the scene.

It was assumed that the perpetrator was a hufflepuff.  
Who else could have gotten into the hufflepuff cellar and carted away all of Winifred's things?

It remained a mystery.

But Winifred herself, after the excitement had died down, thought back on a certain remark she had made about Scorpius Malfoy, and felt sick. 


	7. Chapter 7

Albus sat up so fast he hit his head on headboard of his bed.  
He inhaled sharply and gingerly touched the rapidly swelling bump on the back of his head.

He rubbed his face with a groan. This was the fourth night in a row he'd been woken by Malfoy screaming bloody murder.

He heard Sean Finnegan punch his pillow and swear in frustration.  
"Will somebody shut him up!" He whispered furiously.

The fires were the biggest topic of conversation around hogwarts that month.

What had started with Winifred soon grew to include multiple students and teachers.

Everyone was terrified of having their clothes, their books, their possessions burned.

It was after the discovery of one such bonfire that lily saw something glinting silver in the grass next to the burn site. She stopped to pick it up, and turned the object over in her hands.

It seemed to be a cigarette lighter. It was an odd object to think this about, but it was one of the most beautiful works of craftsmanship she had ever seen.

The lighter had a harlequin diamond pattern of silver and green. The green diamond shapes looked to be emeralds, and the silver diamonds were intricately engraved with a royal looking pattern.  
The top of the lighter was fashioned to resemble a snake's head, carved from silver, with two fangs coming down the sides. The snake had tiny green gemstones for eyes. Its scales were expertly carved into the metal, nearly lifelike.

It was quite obvious that it had belonged to a slytherin, and a very wealthy one.

Lily turned it over, and on the bottom was inscribed, with masterful penmanship, "Sanctimonia Vincet Semper" The phrase sounded faintly familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

"Sanctimonia Vincet Semper" She said slowly, hoping to jog her memory. Her mind remained blank.

The snake head hissed, blinked, and opened its mouth. A flame shaped like a forked tongue darted out and flickered a few moments before retracting.

"Sanctimonia Vincet Semper is the Malfoy family motto. It means purity will always conquer, or some other nonsense like that. Why are you asking about it? Has Malfoy been running his mouth off about blood purity or something?"  
Molly sounded suspicious.

Molly was the one to go to for information. She had an incredible mind for remembering facts. She was resented for this because she wouldn't use it to "help" her cousins with their essays and reports.

"No, nothing like that. I just remembered it from somewhere and couldn't think of where." Lily replied.

"Has anyone seen Malfoy?"  
Lily asked around the common room.

Nobody seemed to know where he'd gone (they were just glad he wasn't there.)

"Oy, lily, I think he went down to the fifth floor." Someone finally called to her from a sofa. "Though I don't know why a nice little second year like you would want to find that freak on purpose." The older student added; it was Josh Taylor who'd spoken.

Lily made a thorough search of the fifth floor, but he was nowhere to be found.

Just as she was about to give up, she heard soft music coming from behind a closed door.

It was the now abandoned music room. She hadn't thought to even look there, music classes weren't offered at hogwarts since the previous teacher had retired. The classroom was now not used for anything.

She pushed lightly on the door and it swung open without a creak.

Scorpius was playing the piano. He made a striking figure in the dark, forgotten room, looking like a ghost among cobwebs and abandoned instruments. His eyes were closed.

It was a haunting song, and he played it hard. He threw his whole body into it, hands running up and down the keys, back bowed over the instrument, swaying back and forth.

Lily was spellbound. She'd never heard this song before. She mused that it must be an ancient composition, taught to pureblood children.

Then he began to sing. His voice wasn't what could be called a pretty one. Not one that a classical singing instructor would rave over, but it was soulful, a throaty, rasping timbre that sent a chill down her spine.

He didn't sing the words, he howled them; strange, mournful lyrics.

Lily began to realize that this was no classical wizarding composition, despite the lovely melodic start.

The way he sang it, it sounded almost like, well, a muggle song.

She completely forgot that she had come here to confront him.

There was such sorrow in his voice, such agony on his face as he reached the crescendo of the song.

Lily almost forgot to breathe. It was one of the beautiful performances she had ever seen.

And as she was drawn into the spell of the music, she subconsciously began to lean on the half open door. All at on the door swung open, and lily went tumbling forward.

As soon as she hit the ground Scorpius stopped playing and jumped up.

His eyes were blazing bright.

"Get out!"

"I.. I'm sorry! I didn't intend to-"

"Get out!" He screamed in fury. His face had gone white.

Lily scrambled up, ready to turn and bolt out the door, when she caught sight of something.

There was a long, dark shape on the underside of Scorpius's arm. It looked almost like a...

"Is that a dark mark?!" She shrieked. 


	8. Chapter 8

"It is!" She answered her own question, "Wh-WHY in Merlin's name have you got a.. a dark mark?!" She was so stunned that she tripped over her own words.

Malfoy looked down at his own arm, as if he didn't recognize it, and then back up at her. He seemed frozen.

Lily was so shocked that her breath was coming too fast. She turned and ran.

Scorpius ran after her. All at once he stopped, swerved back, grabbed his jacket, and ran after her again, putting it on as he went.

"Lilly wait! Let me explain!" He called after her.

All Lily could think was that she had to get to Mcgonagall's office.

Scorpius chased her down the steep, winding stairs, through a long, deserted hall, and down another hall.

"Lily!" He sounded desperate.

Lily's feet barely touched the floor. She practically flew through hogwarts.

Scorpius could barely keep up with her; every time he came within a few feet of her she disappeared around a corner or down a stair.

"Lily! I can explain, it's not what you think!" He called again.

As he tore through a corridor a voice yelled after him.

"Malfoy! What the hell are you chasing my sister for?! Get away from her!"

James began to chase Malfoy.

"Confundo!" James yelled, and Scorpius swerved to avoid the spell.

Scorpius ignored James as he ran, trying to catch up with Lily and dodge James's spells at the same time.

For the second time Lily ran headlong into Neville.

Scorpius barely had time to register what had happened. He skidded to a stop so fast that James crashed into him from behind.

Neville helped Lily up.

"I hope you don't intend to make this a habit, Lily." He said, but not meanly.

"Professor! Malfoy's been chasing my sister all over the place!" James said hotly, jumping up. His nose was bleeding from running into the back of Scorpius's head.

Scorpius could feel a lump swelling on the back of his head.

"I wasn't chasing her!" He defended himself, "I just wanted to tell her something!"

"That really explains why she was running away from you, Malfoy!" James replied.

"Well, Lily? Was mr. Malfoy here chasing you?" Neville queried.

Lily looked at Neville. He looked patient, ready to listen.  
James looked angry and eager to fight or see a punishment doled out.

Then she looked at Scorpius. His eyes were desperate. Roiling and dark like thunderclouds before the rain. He locked eyes with her.

"I really did just want to tell her something." He insisted, maintaining eye contact with her.

"He was chasing her, right lily?" James countered.

Scorpius seemed to be trying to tell her something with his eyes.

"He didn't do anything, I mean, he said my name and I freaked out and ran away." Lily said at last.

"Why are you defending him?!" James accused.

"I'm not-I mean, there's nothing to defend anyway! He tried to talk to me and I ran away. It was stupid."

James turned on Scorpius. "Why do you want to talk to her, Malfoy? What could you possibly have to say to my little sister?" He sounded threatening.

"None of your business, potter. It's her I wanted to talk to, not you."

"All right, lets everybody calm down. James, Lily says nothing happened, and I for one believe her.  
Scorpius, what did you have to say to lily that was so important you'd chase her around Hogwarts scaring the poor girl half to death in the process?" Neville said.

"It's none of your business either. Professor." Scorpius said insolently.

Lily decided to intervene before Scorpius landed himself in yet another detention.

"I appreciate the help James, professor Longbottom, but I'm fine. I can handle myself.  
Scorpius, whatever you have to say to me, you can say it in the library. I have to research for my report on grindylows."  
Lily walked off in the direction of the library.

She took a seat at the most secluded table in the library, in a shadowy corner against the wall and surrounded on both sides by bookshelves.

She didn't have a long wait. Scorpius showed up about six minutes later, and pulled up a seat.

"I guess you want an explanation." He said. He didn't look her in the eye, but kept his gaze on his hands.

"That'd be an understatement, Malfoy." Lily said.

She was baffled and still shocked. What was Malfoy messing around with? A dark mark! She didn't even know that people still did that sort of thing. And could be the point anyway? Voldemort was long dead! She was bursting with questions. But she waited for Malfoy to explain himself.

He sat silently for a few minutes, then looked up finally. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes.

He looked around them. Having apparently decided it was safely empty, he rolled up his sleeve, hunching over to to hide it from view just in case someone could be watching despite the library being nearly deserted.

"Take a look." He told her.

Lily hesitated.

"Nothing's gonna happen, Lily. Just look." He stretched his arm out.

Lily leaned over to look at the dark mark.

"It's a dark mark. I don't know what you expect me to see, Malfoy! What in Merlin's name have you done? Why would you have a-"

"Just look! Really look!" He interrupted her.

Lily looked closer.

Then she realized it: the dark shape wasn't flat against his skin, not like a tattoo.

The lines that composed the dark mark stuck out, and were roughly, unevenly etched on his skin.

She held out her hand above his arm.

"Can I?" She asked.

"Go ahead. Its not going to bite you."

Lily tentatively touched it. The outline of the snake and skull was bumpy and knobby feeling.

It was a scar. The whole thing was a dark scar, carved into the pale underside of his arm.

Lily snatched her hand back.

"It's not real!" She exclaimed.

He nodded a confirmation and rolled his sleeve back down. He wouldn't look at her again.

"B.. But how? How'd it happen? Who did this to you?!" Lily was almost more shocked now.

"Doesn't matter. It's not magic. I'm not trying to summon the dark lord. You satisfied now?" He said sardonically.

"No! You've got a bloody dark mark cut into your arm! Who would do something like that?" Lily hissed.

Scorpius shoved his chair back and stood.

"Just keep your mouth shut about it! It doesn't matter how it happened. You saw its not real, so keep out of my business from now on." Scorpius said, and stalked out of the library before she could counter his point.

At dinner that day Lily went and sat down beside Scorpius, who was stuffing his face as fast as he could, as usual.

Lily slid the lighter across the table to his plate.

He stopped eating and looked up at her.

"I found that at one of the burn sites." She said in a low voice.

Scorpius pocketed the lighter. He went back to eating.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything? This looks really bad, Malfoy." Lily said.

"What do you want me to say? You're sharp, Potter. I'm sure you've figured it out already." He said.

"That's it?! You're not even going to defend yourself?" Lily asked.

"Defend what? Tell or don't tell. I don't really care. But please leave me alone."

"But you've got to have some sort of reason! You can't tell me you just go around burning people's belongings without any purpose behind it!"

Scorpius glared at her. He had that intense, hateful look on his face now.

"I don't do it for no reason! I do it because its fun! I do it because I like to watch shit burn. You happy now? You don't know shit about me. I'm no good Lily. You can go running to the teachers, you can go running to the ministry, nobody can hate me more than they already do, so it doesn't bloody matter!" Scorpius was so incensed at this point that he slammed his fist on the table, stood up abruptly and walked out.

Rose scooted down the table at that point.

"Bloody hell, Lily! What'd you do to piss off Malfoy so bad? I'd be watching my back from now on if I was you. What was he ranting about anyway?"

Lily shook her head.

"Nothing. It was nothing. Just.. Leave me alone."

She ran off.

This whole business with Malfoy weighed heavy on her heart.  
She knew the right thing to do would be to tell the teachers. Wouldn't it? Malfoy was causing a lot of damage. He was hurting a lot people.

But Malfoy himself was hurting too, maybe much more than the people whose things he burned. She could see it in his shadowy, stormy eyes, see in his hunched posture. In the dark mark crudely carved into his arm, in the way he played the piano with such sadness. She couldn't just rat him out like that. Not till she found out what was really going on. 


End file.
